himeshima no komatsu ga ure ni iru tazu wa chitose furedomo toshi oizukeri
Among Himeshima’s[i] Pine seedling shoots Rest cranes: A thousand year may pass, yet They’ll not age through the years.[ii]
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[i] Himeshima 姫島 (‘Princess Isle’) was a small island which is believed to have lain in the mouth of the Yodo River where it entered the inland sea south of modern Osaka. Due to changes in topography and the river’s course since ancient times, however, its exact location is now unknown.
[ii] See: [One of] two poems composed to express his grief and sorrow by Kawabe no Miyahito when he saw the coffin of a young girl in the pine groves of Himeshima in Wadō 4 [711]. 妹之名者 千代尓将流 姫嶋之 子松之末尓 蘿生万代尓 imo ga na wa / chiyo ni nagaremu / himeshima no / komatsu ga ure ni / kokemusu made ni ‘This maiden’s name / Will drift down a thousand ages / Until Himeshima’s / Pine seedling shoots are / Choked with hanging moss.’ (Man’yōshū II: 228)
[One of] two poems composed to express his grief and sorrow by Kawabe no Miyahito when he saw the coffin of a young girl in the pine groves of Himeshima in Wadō 4 [711].
妹之名者 千代尓将流 姫嶋之 子松之末尓 蘿生万代尓
いもがなは ちよにながれむ ひめしまの こまつがうれに こけむすまでに
imo ga na pa tiyo ni nagaremu pimesima no komatu ga ure ni kokemusu made ni
This maiden’s name Will drift down a thousand ages Until Himeshima’s Pine seedling shoots are Choked with hanging moss.
adusayumi isobe no komatu ta ga yo ni ka yoroduyo kanete tane wo makikemu
A catalpa bow, The dwarf pine upon the rocky shore Has through whose lifetimes lived? “That it last ten thousand ages!” Was with its seed a’planted, perhaps?
